Among recent major technologies in the United States, generative artificial intelligence (AI) had a much steeper leap in users in year two from year one than the other major technologies. Nearly ten times the amount of people had used generative AI within a year of its making, compared to three times the amount of tablet users and barely twice the amount of smartphone users. This leap has not remained steady, however, and tablets had more users in year four since its release than is expected of generative AI.

U.S. citizens are skeptical

Adults in the United States were somewhat concerned with the development and growth of generative AI in 2023. While most were somewhat concerned another third was mostly concerned, and relatively few individuals were excited. This is understandable with the rapid growth of new technology, as change and unknown factors always cause concern among the wider population.

Investment in tech going strong

In the U.S. investment in new technologies and generative AI were among the highest in enterprises. These topped investments in hiring, cost-cutting, and outsourcing. This high rate of investment in new technologies and AI is likely driven by the whole-of-enterprise effect that these trends might have on companies.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution has sped up the adoption of news technologies, which has led to changes in job content and required skills, in addition to the displacement of certain jobs. According to the survey, approximately 75% of companies are likely or highly likely to adopt big data analytics, cloud computing, e-commerce and digital trade, and AI technologies between 2023 and 2027, while more than 86% plan to adopt digital platforms and apps.

As of 2023, nearly 92 percent of digital leaders globally stated that their companies adopted cloud technology either on small or large scale. Big data/ analytics were the second most popular adopted technology with around 61 percent of respondents reporting the same. Artificial intelligence/ machine learning At the same time, 26 percent of respondents were considering using Artificial intelligence (AI) / machine learning (ML) technology, while 24 percent said that their companies were piloting the implementation AI/ML technology.

What is cloud computing?  

Cloud computing refers to the use of networks of remote servers accessed over the internet to store, manage, and process data. It offers customers access to a wide range of technologies while lowering costs and reducing the need for technical expertise. The cloud service market is divided into three primary service models encompassing infrastructure, platforms, and software. Customers are able to choose between private, public, or hybrid cloud deployment depending on their business needs and security concerns.

SaaS: the most widely adopted cloud solutions    

In line with increases in companies’ adoption of cloud computing technologies, the worldwide revenue generated from these technologies has increased rapidly in recent years. Software as a Service (SaaS) is the largest segment of the global cloud computing market with revenues forecast to be around 197 billion U.S. dollars in 2023. Popular applications of SaaS include customer relationship management and enterprise resource planning software.

In 2023, a large majority of the companies in the professional services industry worldwide were likely to adopt digital platforms and apps between 2023 and 2027. During the survey, 86 percent of respondents stated they are likely or very likely to adopt digital platforms and apps. Education and workforce development technologies followed, with 81 percent of the respondents.

Among the major internet milestones that have appeared in the last few decades ChatGPT, as an online sensation, has been markedly faster at accumulating a million users than any other. This list of, albeit slightly different, major internet services and pieces of technology, demonstrates how quickly ChatGPT accumulated a userbase. While the two leading services discussed here, Netflix and Airbnb, were both competing with existing market structures, ChatGPT has few, if any, rivals in its capacity as a chatbot.

ChatGPT

As a chatbot service, ChatGPT has taken the internet by storm in recent days. Made by the small but successful startup OpenAI, also well known for their art generative artificial intelligence Dall-E, it has accumulated a large number of users and funding, as well as several controversies. Universities have been struggling to tackle essays generated by ChatGPT, with some in Australia claiming that a return to pen and paper might be needed.

iphone As Apple’s most successful product, the iPhone is one of the most heavyweight players in the smartphone market, with dozens of millions of iPhones being shipped every quarter. Indeed, when it comes to smartphone vendor share, Apple is the second largest smartphone vendor in the world after Samsung. Before ChatGPT it had been the phenomenon fastest to one million users.

This statistic depicts the share of companies in the aviation, travel and tourism industry worldwide who are likely to adopt new technologies between 2018 and 2022, broken down by technology. During the survey, 95 percent of respondents stated they are likely or very likely to adopt the 'internet of things'.

The majority of the respondents (38.5 percent) to a 2019 survey, conducted in the United States and Canada, stated that they usually used new technologies at the same time as other people. Around 10 percent said that they were usually amongst the first users of new technologies.

According to the results of a survey conducted among global companies throughout 2020, the main perceived barriers to the adoption of new technologies were related to the companies' workforce and management. In fact, skills gaps in the local labor market, inability to attract specialized talent, and skills gaps among leadership were indicated as the three main barriers to new technology adoption.

The most popular information technology trend either implemented or planned to be implemented in North American and European organizations was 5G technology with 54 percent of respondents stating that it was currently in use, while 17 percent of respondents stated they plan to adopt it within 2 years. Adoption of IT automation technology came in at second place, with 50 percent of respondents reporting that it was currently in use, and 18 percent reporting that they plan to adopt it within the next 2 years.

In 2020, 87 percent of clinicians surveyed in the United Kingdom reported using electronic health records frequently, making it the technology with highest adoption rate in healthcare. E-prescribing was adopted by 69 percent of respondents, followed by online booking appointment at 52 percent.

Over 80 percent of businesses in Slovenia stated in a survey that they used advanced digital technologies in 2022, more than in any other Central and Eastern European (CEE) country. Furthermore, Romania had the largest share of firms that reported to have become more digital in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

By comparing data from 2022 and 2024, it appeared that technology adoption in farming grew on a global scale. This was especially true of North America and Latin America. The latter witnessed the fastest growth as the share of farmers using or willing to adopt at least one new technology in 2024 increased by 10 percent compared to 2022 (60 percent of respondents in 2024 against 50 percent in 2022). In Europe, on the other hand, data highlighted a negative trend (55 percent of farmers in 2024 against 62 percent in 2022).

In 2020, skills gaps in the local labor market were perceived as the main barrier to the adoption of new technologies in the automotive industry worldwide. Skills gaps among organization's leadership followed, being cited by more than 44 percent of the respondents as a barrier to new technology adoption in the industry.

During a 2022 survey conducted among professionals in the United States, it was found that 29 percent of respondents belonging to Gen Z used generative AI tools. Moreover, 28 percent of Gen X and 27 percent of millennials respondents used such tools, respectively.

Generative AI

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) refers to algorithms that focus on producing new content, such as text, images, music, speech, code, or video. Generative AI is part of deep learning, the machine learning branch which aims to reduce the manual work of programming parameters for AI. Currently, researchers and developers use generative AI in various industries, like advertising and marketing, but rumors suggest that more businesses and consumers will adopt this technology in the near future to perform a wide range of tasks.

ChatGPT

An example of generative AI is ChatGPT, the famous chatbot software launched in November 2022 by the American startup OpenAI, which is also well known for its art generative AI program Dall-E. The chatbot can produce text based on given inputs, recognize mistakes, challenge incorrect premises, and reject inappropriate requests. ChatGPT has quickly gained popularity, becoming one of the major breakthroughs of the last few decades in the technology industry. Indeed, it was the fastest IoT service to accumulate a one-million user base, in only five days.

As real estate companies adopt new technology, the usage of proptech has varied across its different business areas in the United States. According to more than half of real estate experts surveyed, companies in the industry have extensively adopted data analytics, space and use design, and health and wellness technology to manage business and property in 2022.

This statistic shows the share of technology adoption by companies in the United States by 2022. During the survey, 89 percent of the companies surveyed predicted that they would adopt user and entity big data analytics technology by 2022.

It is projected that in 2025, three-quarters of the global mining industry will have adopted asset cyber security technology. Other smart mining technologies such as connected worker and remote operations centers are projected to have adoption rates by the global mining industry of up to 50 percent by that time.

In 2020, 77 percent of clinicians surveyed in Germany reported to using electronic health records frequently, and therefore the digital technology with highest adoption rate in healthcare. Digital rostering was adopted by 52 percent of respondents, while 44 percent reported using apps for clinicians.

In 2020, skills gaps in the local labor market and the inability to attract specialize talent were perceived as the main barriers to the adoption of new technologies in the agriculture, food, and beverage industry worldwide. Skills gaps among organization's leadership followed, being cited by almost 47.1 percent of the respondents as a barrier to new technology adoption in the industry.

In 2020, hotel executives in the United States were surveyed on their adoption rates of contactless hotel technologies. The majority of respondents, 44 percent, stated that they were considering new digital messaging services to handle guest requests in the future.